661. What Happens If A Sister Voluntarily Gives Her Shares?

By Asma Bint Shameem

1. If the sisters *voluntarily* give up their share without any pressures, especially if the brother is not well off, then  that would be an act of charity on the part of the sisters and they will be rewarded for their generosity. 

And in that case, the brother does not have to do anything regarding the property. 

2. If the sisters want their share, which is their right, they can  sell the house and divide the inheritance according to the Sharee’ah, with the male getting twice that of the female. 

3. If they can’t agree on anything they should take it to a judge and work something out. 

Someone asked the scholars of the Standing Committee:

“How should inherited houses and movable possessions such as cars, tools and so on be divided, when there is mutual consent and when there is no mutual consent among the heirs?”

The scholars replied: 

“It should be divided among them according to the shares of inheritance prescribed in Islaam, with the help of experts in evaluation of the estate. 

If they agree amongst themselves to this division and they are mature adults, there is nothing wrong with that. 

But if they disagree, then the dispute should be referred to the *sharee‘ah court.* “

(Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah, 16/459)

And the scholars said:

“The partners all want to divide the shared wealth, or some of them want to do that and the others have agreed to the division and the manner of implementing it, so they do not have any need to go to the judge. 

In that case the division is called “division by mutual consent”.

One or more may want to do that but others may refuse. 

If the one who wants to do it refers the matter to the court, and the judge takes charge of dividing the wealth in accordance with Islamic principles, in this case the division is called “compulsory division”.

Division by mutual consent is that which is done with the approval of all partners. 

Compulsory division is that which is done through the court because there is no agreement among the partners.”

(al-Mawsoo‘ah al-Fiqhiyyah 33/215)

And Allaah knows best